Methods for forming air gaps in an interconnection structure with desired materials formed on different locations of the interconnection structure using an ion implantation process to define an etching boundary followed by an etching process for semiconductor devices are provided. In one embodiment, a method for forming air gaps in an interconnection structure on a substrate, the method includes implanting ions in a first region of an insulating material disposed on a substrate, leaving a second region without implanted ions, the second region having a first surface interfaced with the first region and a second surface interfaced with the substrate, and performing an etching process to selectively etch the second region away from the substrate, forming an air gap between the first region and the substrate.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection. Each claim is shown in both the original legal language and a plain English translation.
1. A method for forming air gaps in an interconnection structure on a substrate, the method comprising: implanting ions in a first region of an insulating material disposed on a substrate, leaving a second region without implanted ions, the second region having a first surface interfaced with the first region and a second surface interfaced with the substrate; and performing an etching process to selectively etch the second region away from the substrate utilizing the first region of the insulating material as an etching boundary, forming an air gap between the etching boundary and the substrate.
A method for creating air gaps in an integrated circuit. Ions are implanted into a first region of an insulating material on a substrate, leaving a second region unimplanted. The second region is adjacent to both the implanted first region and the substrate. An etching process then selectively removes the unimplanted second region, using the implanted first region as an etching boundary, resulting in an air gap between the implanted region and the substrate.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the etching process is a wet etching process.
The air gap creation method described in the previous step uses a wet etching process to remove the unimplanted region of insulating material. Ions are implanted into a first region of an insulating material on a substrate, leaving a second region unimplanted. The second region is adjacent to both the implanted first region and the substrate. An etching process then selectively removes the unimplanted second region, using the implanted first region as an etching boundary, resulting in an air gap between the implanted region and the substrate.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the etching process is a dry etching process utilizing a remote plasma etching process, the remote plasma etching process further comprising: forming a remote plasma from a gas mixture including a fluorine containing gas.
The air gap creation method described in the first step uses a dry etching process with remote plasma etching to remove the unimplanted region of insulating material. The remote plasma etching uses a gas mixture containing a fluorine-containing gas to etch the material. Ions are implanted into a first region of an insulating material on a substrate, leaving a second region unimplanted. The second region is adjacent to both the implanted first region and the substrate. An etching process then selectively removes the unimplanted second region, using the implanted first region as an etching boundary, resulting in an air gap between the implanted region and the substrate.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the fluorine containing gas is selected from a group consisting of CF 4 , C 2 F 6 , C 3 F 8 , NF 3 and C 4 F 10 .
The air gap creation method that uses dry etching process with remote plasma etching, uses a fluorine-containing gas selected from CF4, C2F6, C3F8, NF3, or C4F10. The remote plasma etching uses a gas mixture containing a fluorine-containing gas to etch the material. Ions are implanted into a first region of an insulating material on a substrate, leaving a second region unimplanted. The second region is adjacent to both the implanted first region and the substrate. An etching process then selectively removes the unimplanted second region, using the implanted first region as an etching boundary, resulting in an air gap between the implanted region and the substrate.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of metal wirings is formed in the insulating material.
The air gap creation method includes forming metal wires within the insulating material. Ions are implanted into a first region of an insulating material on a substrate, leaving a second region unimplanted. The second region is adjacent to both the implanted first region and the substrate. An etching process then selectively removes the unimplanted second region, using the implanted first region as an etching boundary, resulting in an air gap between the implanted region and the substrate.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the ion implantation process further comprises: supplying a gas mixture including an oxygen containing gas during the ion implantation process.
During the ion implantation step of the air gap creation method, a gas mixture containing oxygen is supplied. Ions are implanted into a first region of an insulating material on a substrate, leaving a second region unimplanted. The second region is adjacent to both the implanted first region and the substrate. An etching process then selectively removes the unimplanted second region, using the implanted first region as an etching boundary, resulting in an air gap between the implanted region and the substrate.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the oxygen containing gas is selected from a group consisting of O 2 , H 2 O, O 3 , N 2 O and NO 2 .
The air gap creation method including oxygen during the ion implantation, uses an oxygen-containing gas selected from O2, H2O, O3, N2O, or NO2. During the ion implantation step of the air gap creation method, a gas mixture containing oxygen is supplied. Ions are implanted into a first region of an insulating material on a substrate, leaving a second region unimplanted. The second region is adjacent to both the implanted first region and the substrate. An etching process then selectively removes the unimplanted second region, using the implanted first region as an etching boundary, resulting in an air gap between the implanted region and the substrate.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: etching the second region utilizing the etching boundary formed in the first region to promote etching selectivity.
The air gap creation method etches the unimplanted region utilizing the etching boundary to improve etching selectivity. Ions are implanted into a first region of an insulating material on a substrate, leaving a second region unimplanted. The second region is adjacent to both the implanted first region and the substrate. An etching process then selectively removes the unimplanted second region, using the implanted first region as an etching boundary, resulting in an air gap between the implanted region and the substrate.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the insulating material is a silicon containing low dielectric constant material having a dielectric constant less than 4.
This invention relates to semiconductor manufacturing, specifically to the use of insulating materials with low dielectric constants to reduce signal delay and crosstalk in integrated circuits. The problem addressed is the increasing resistance-capacitance (RC) delay in interconnects as device dimensions shrink, which degrades performance. The solution involves incorporating a silicon-containing low-k dielectric material with a dielectric constant below 4 into the semiconductor structure. This material reduces parasitic capacitance between conductive features, improving signal propagation speed and reducing power consumption. The low-k material is deposited as part of the interconnect stack, typically between metal lines or vias, to minimize capacitance while maintaining mechanical stability. The silicon-containing composition ensures compatibility with existing semiconductor fabrication processes, allowing integration without significant modifications. This approach is particularly useful in advanced nodes where traditional dielectric materials no longer provide sufficient performance improvements. The invention focuses on optimizing the dielectric properties of the insulating material to enhance overall circuit efficiency.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first region and the second region have different etching rate, providing an etching selectivity during the etching process.
The air gap creation method ensures the implanted and unimplanted regions have different etching rates, providing etching selectivity during the etching process. Ions are implanted into a first region of an insulating material on a substrate, leaving a second region unimplanted. The second region is adjacent to both the implanted first region and the substrate. An etching process then selectively removes the unimplanted second region, using the implanted first region as an etching boundary, resulting in an air gap between the implanted region and the substrate.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the etching process to selectively etch the second region further comprises: performing a surface cut process to a substrate surface to expose a cross-section of the substrate, exposing the first and the second region of the insulating material in cross-section prior to performing the etching process.
Before etching the unimplanted region in the air gap creation method, a surface cut exposes a cross-section of the substrate, revealing both the implanted and unimplanted regions of the insulating material. Ions are implanted into a first region of an insulating material on a substrate, leaving a second region unimplanted. The second region is adjacent to both the implanted first region and the substrate. An etching process then selectively removes the unimplanted second region, using the implanted first region as an etching boundary, resulting in an air gap between the implanted region and the substrate.
12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising: performing a surface deposition process to seal the substrate surface after performing and etching process.
After etching and forming the air gap, the exposed substrate surface is sealed using a surface deposition process in the air gap creation method, that includes an initial cut to expose the cross-section of the substrate. Ions are implanted into a first region of an insulating material on a substrate, leaving a second region unimplanted. The second region is adjacent to both the implanted first region and the substrate. An etching process then selectively removes the unimplanted second region, using the implanted first region as an etching boundary, resulting in an air gap between the implanted region and the substrate.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ion implantation process is a plasma ion immersion process or an ion beam implantation process performed in a single step or in multiple steps.
The ion implantation process in the air gap creation method can be performed using either plasma ion immersion or ion beam implantation, in a single step or multiple steps. Ions are implanted into a first region of an insulating material on a substrate, leaving a second region unimplanted. The second region is adjacent to both the implanted first region and the substrate. An etching process then selectively removes the unimplanted second region, using the implanted first region as an etching boundary, resulting in an air gap between the implanted region and the substrate.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the insulating material is utilized in the interconnection structure.
The insulating material used in the air gap creation method is also utilized in the interconnection structure of the device. Ions are implanted into a first region of an insulating material on a substrate, leaving a second region unimplanted. The second region is adjacent to both the implanted first region and the substrate. An etching process then selectively removes the unimplanted second region, using the implanted first region as an etching boundary, resulting in an air gap between the implanted region and the substrate.
15. A method for forming air gaps in an interconnection structure on a substrate, the method comprising: altering film properties of a first region of an insulating material disposed on a substrate while leaving the film properties of a second region of the insulating material unchanged; and selectively removing the second region of the insulating material from the substrate utilizing the first region of the insulating material as an etching boundary to form air gaps between the etching boundary and the substrate.
A method for creating air gaps in an integrated circuit. The film properties of a first region of an insulating material on a substrate are altered, while the film properties of a second region remain unchanged. The second region is then selectively removed from the substrate, using the altered first region as an etching boundary, resulting in air gaps between the boundary and the substrate.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein altering the film properties of the first region further comprises: performing an ion implantation process to dope ions into the first region of the insulating material.
In the air gap creation method, altering the film properties involves doping ions into the first region of the insulating material using ion implantation to the first region of an insulating material. The film properties of a first region of an insulating material on a substrate are altered, while the film properties of a second region remain unchanged. The second region is then selectively removed from the substrate, using the altered first region as an etching boundary, resulting in air gaps between the boundary and the substrate.
17. The method of claim 15 , wherein selectively removing the second region of the insulating material further comprises: performing an wet etching or a dry etching process to remove the second region of the insulating material from the substrate.
In the air gap creation method, the selective removal of the second region uses either a wet etching or dry etching process to remove the second region of insulating material. The film properties of a first region of an insulating material on a substrate are altered, while the film properties of a second region remain unchanged. The second region is then selectively removed from the substrate, using the altered first region as an etching boundary, resulting in air gaps between the boundary and the substrate.
18. The method of claim 16 , wherein performing the ion implantation process further comprises: implanting oxygen ions into the first region of the insulating material.
In the air gap creation method using ion implantation to alter film properties, oxygen ions are implanted into the first region of the insulating material. The film properties of a first region of an insulating material on a substrate are altered, while the film properties of a second region remain unchanged. The second region is then selectively removed from the substrate, using the altered first region as an etching boundary, resulting in air gaps between the boundary and the substrate.
19. A method for forming air gaps in an interconnection structure on a substrate, the method comprising: forming an etching boundary by implanting ions to a first region of an insulating material disposed on a substrate to a predetermine depth, leaving a second region of the insulating material without ions implanted; and selectively removing the second region of the insulating material from the substrate using the predetermined depth as the etching boundary, wherein the second region of the insulating material removed from the substrate forms air gaps between the substrate and the etching boundary.
A method for creating air gaps in an integrated circuit by first creating an etching boundary. This is done by implanting ions to a predetermined depth into a first region of an insulating material disposed on a substrate, leaving a second region of the insulating material without implanted ions. The second region of the insulating material is then selectively removed from the substrate using the predetermined depth as the etching boundary, and the removal of the second region results in the creation of air gaps between the substrate and the etching boundary.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
January 14, 2015
March 14, 2017
Browse 5M+ US patents with plain-English claim translations and AI-generated analysis.